The top ten teams from several hundred entries were invited to present their proposals in front of a distinguished panel. In a showdown that saw many brilliant ideas showcased, the team from ISB comprising Ali Potia, Megh Kalyanasundaram, Pranav Saraiya and Sindhu Shanmugam took home the honors. Their idea was a model that facilitates the transfer of simple, low-cost technologies to rural communities. Dealing with the SSI sector, they proposed to use just 1% of the SSI budget outlay to drive rural industrial growth.

Rural tourism and BPOs to promote alternative livelihood were the tools of choice for Aditya V, Ananth Chilukuri, Gaurav Kumar, Vasav Varshney, the team from SPJIMR who came in a close second. The winners walk away with a prize of one lakh with an additional lakh donated to a charity of the winning team’s choice. But money is just one consideration, the uniqueness of the competition lies in the fact that these and three other ideas that were unveiled during the course of the event will be presented to the PMO as the contribution of budding business leaders to society.

In addition to this, the breath-taking campus of IIM-K played host to participants from several B-schools who came to take part in a plethora of business simulation games. The fest which just keeps getting better every year witnessed intense competiton in several on-the-spot management games and informal events. The 3 day fest came to an end with a pulsating performance by Hindi Rock band Euphoria.

Backwaters 2007 is being sponsored by Reliance Industries, RPG, Cognizant, Bristlecone, Lenovo, PaGaLGuY and Airtel. PaGaLGuY is the knowledge partner and Business Standard, the print media partner for the event.

For more information, please visit www.iimkbackwaters.com or contact Sheeba at 9846774441 or Shweta at 9846570842.